The Infectious Sarah Palin

I may be alone on this, but ever since McCain named Sarah Palin as his V.P. choice, John McCain seems to have more pep in his step. His campaign speeches seem more vigorous, and I even get a sense of optimism that is real and not plastic.

If anybody had the idea that Sarah Palin would roll over and wimp out in the face of a hostile press, she put that idea to bed. She has proven to be a gutsy, feisty, warm, and infectious person. She communicates well and exudes a down-home persona that resonates with her audience.

Should McCain/Palin win the election, that Vice Presidents job will certainly launch her into the catbird seat for 2012. (None of my associates thinks that McCain will seek a second term, but we'll see.) Sarah Palin came along at just the right time for the Republicans. The Republican Party had run out of steam, and it looked like they had degenerated into a bunch of stodgy old men afraid of their own shadow.

At a time when things looked bad for the Republicans, along comes this confident, proud conservative mother of five who could look the opposition in the eye and take them on. The fact that she is every inch a female who isn't afraid to dress like one doesn't hurt either. No pantsuits for Sarah, there is no need to try and be manly like other female politicians. She makes her presence felt without needing the appearance of manliness.

The women, who are not jealous of Sarah, are thrilled to have their gender elevated. Women instinctively realize that Sarah Palin makes it all right to be a woman in a supposedly male dominated world; she makes them proud of their gender. Sarah respects motherhood and makes it clear that every life deserves a chance. Others disdain calling a fetus an unborn child; to them, the unborn child is just a tissue mass to flush away like some piece of garbage.

John, you have 'chosen wisely' your partner for this campaign. Sarah is like the proverbial tide that raises all boats. Her ebullience is infectious and I for one now unabashedly support the Republican ticket. Sarah has singlehandedly changed the dynamics of this race, and added fire to your campaign. I salute you John McCain for your wisdom in choosing Sarah Palin.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Bottom Up Economics

When the economy is set up to operate from the 'bottom up', marginal and middle-class start the money flow with their purchases, and the profits from what they spend works its way up the line. Sounds good so far, just spread the wealth around where the economy can begin at the bottom instead of the top. It certainly sounds better than the trickle-down scenario where the money trickles down to the bottom from the marketplace.
What happened to our sanity? Why haven't we thought of this 'bottom up' idea before now? Well the truth is, we have. The model failed every time a society tried it.

Imagine if you will, a society that lives nearly tax-free until a person reaches a predetermined income. That predetermined level, decided by the bureaucrats, triggers the taxes you will now start paying. From that point on, the Government harvests some to most of your profits. In effect, the Government takes only the good out of your business and leaves you with the headaches, the need to upgrade, making the payroll, and paying the health care of your employees. When the Government becomes an unequal partner in the business that you have nourished from nothing, it destroys the incentive to grow the business any further, what's the use.

A burgeoning population will require more and more jobs. The bottom up model discourages industrial commerce because of the onerous tax structure necessary to maintain the economy. Eventually the Government will have to decide to take over those remaining businesses or face revolt. The model cannot support itself. Anytime we cap freedom, progress goes backwards. A truism that everybody needs to remember is that, "Without the possibility of a top, we lose the inspiration to achieve, so we remain a perpetual underclass." Progress demands a mechanism that encourages people to climb that 'hill'.

A free market economy is the only model that allows people to elevate to their comfort zone. Notice I carefully chose the words 'elevate to their comfort zone' on purpose. Not all people have the same comfort zone. And thank goodness, it is that way. A given for everybody is that everybody has the 'wants'. We are born hard-wired to want things. The big question that each individual will have to ask of himself is just how much of life's energies should be expended for the things wanted.

I believe it is safe to assume that everybody would like to have a yacht, but only a few acquire one. The easy answer is that the persons who acquire a yacht were not satisfied with a rowboat or ski boat. In other words, the smaller boats did not fit that person's comfort zone. Now take the next step and think of the cost of that yacht. The person could not possibly own that yacht working for wages. That meant that he had to have an income stream that only a professional career or business owner could provide. In either case, they create jobs for others. This is an example of the free market at work.

People who put it all on the line and work to improve his situation to the point they can afford that yacht are special. We all depend on those people who set the bar a little higher. Without this group, there would be no jobs.

Next, we have the person who is satisfied with 'beer-thirty', goes to sporting events, and enjoys backyard Bar-B-Ques. An individual that reaches his comfort zone sees no need to invest more of life's energies to acquire more baubles. All of us also depend on that person. They build our bridges, work in our factories, and make life possible for all of us.

The individuals without the ambition to acquire the things that they want are the dreamers. They want, but are not willing to invest the energy necessary to make those acquisitions. Instead, they feed on the bottom of society wallowing in the welfare system. They resent those who have the things that they want, but cannot muster up the courage to step out of their circumstances and rely upon themselves. Dreamers are resentful of the rest of society. The sub-cultures that permeate the bottom dwelling group resort to shortcuts to acquire the things they want.

Short cut takers make up our prison populations. They are the thieves, robbers, dope peddlers, and others who seek their fortune by way of the shortcut. Joining society and acquiring baubles in an acceptable manner is not part of their persona. So society has to isolate these individuals to protect the rest of us.

The bottom up strategy destroys the mechanism of progress. Capping the limits of ambition with taxes also kills the need to create a better mousetrap. Bottom up will succeed until the money runs out, then things start going backwards. Removing ones ambition to get rich kills incentive to take risks and create a business. Observe any economy where the Government controls people's livelihood and ask yourself if you would want to live there. North Korea comes to mind, Russia, those African states with Autocratic Governments, and Middle-Eastern Nations under Theocratic Rule.

It is your choice, you can either vote for the repressive idea of a 'bottom up' economical model, or vote for a model that encourages individualism.

Cheers,

-Robert-

We Need Term Limits

The opposite of 'term limits' is 'careerism'. A person's political career depends on the person's ability to get re-elected. A politician's ability to maintain or advance his/her career depends on keeping the constituents at home happy. The politician who 'brings home the bacon' enhances his/her chances to win re-election, or to run for a higher office.

You ask, "What does it hurt to have professional politicians?"

Prolonged stays in power is corruptive. Being in power is addictive. The incumbent's re-election becomes the focus of their term. Raising money for re-election, arranging for the distribution of tax money to projects that are dubious but necessary for re-election make up just a fragment of the efforts our elected representative use to further their self-interest.

The number of politicians interested in only one or two terms in office is rare. I realize that there is some altruism out there, but this piece is going to assume that our politicians all have a career in mind when they decide to be a politician.

A novice politician to Washington first has to learn the pecking order. Largely, the pecking order begins with seniority. As a matter of logic, the more senior members know more about getting re-elected than the novices, so they have control. Novices quickly learn that it takes 'cooperation' to advance any ideas that they might have. It is reminiscent of curious children daring each other with, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." It is a tit for tat atmosphere in the halls of the Congress.

Careerism is responsible for the politician's blind eye to pork laden Bills that wend their way through the Congress. Pork laden bills are successful because every one of the politicians rides in the same boat. They must keep the home-folks happy or some smooth talker will replace him/her in the next election cycle. Last year's pork was around $18- billion dollars. Politicians see the pork as political mother's milk. But for most of us, it just means more taxes.

Some projects are not pork, but necessary governmental obligations. The career politicians have learned to use legitimate obligations as a lever to insert pork. The 'good ole boy' network recues both the legitimate obligation and the pork. Politicians insert earmarks. Remember, getting re-elected is the driving force here. That is where term limits would help. Term limits would stop the continual need for politicians to pander to their constituency.

The large omnibus bills that make their way to the President's desk are a disgrace. These large pork laden bills say a lot about congressional members. The earmarks within those bills attest to the ambition of the politicians as well as their contempt for the nation. They will do whatever it takes to further their 'careers' in complete deference to the needs of the nation.

There is another way to handle the needs of the congressional districts and individual states. When necessary, a congressional member can make any proposal to help his/her district or state. Give the proposal a fair committee hearing and if it gets out of committee, allow a vote on the proposal. Along the way, others might even help improve on the proposal. What a concept! The politician will still have something to show the folks. If the proposal passes, then he can brag. But if it fails, he/she can still refer to the effort on behalf of the constituents.

We need term limits now. I would propose no more than one term for a senator (6 years) and three terms for House members (again 6 years). Rotate the committee leadership positions every year and choose the new chairperson by a system of chance and not because of political need or favor. (Drawing straws perhaps?)

Another benefit of term limits would be to lessen the influence of lobbyists. Since the politician would have no need for campaign donations, he would be able to make uninfluenced choices with his votes. Just think about it. A lobbyist would have to sell his ideas on merit rather than a bribe of campaign cash.

The Congress must be good stewards of the nation. We can no longer afford ambitious, self-serving, callous power seekers. Serving in congress should be an obligation and not a career. The political parties should nominate people with integrity. Anybody nominated by a political party should have to undergo a vetting process that is vigorous enough to weed out candidates found lacking in character.

Term limits may be just wishful thinking, but if the American people demand it, maybe, just maybe it will happen. According to a Harris poll, Americans polled about their respect for the people in charge of their major institutions, Congress consistently comes out next to the bottom. Law firms are the only group that the poll identifies as more unpopular than Congress. Imagine that!

Stand up for Term Limits!
Thanks Bud,

Cheers,

-Robert-

Campaign Donations

A few years back, they stuffed my mailbox with circulars requesting donations. They even sent little plastic RNC membership cards as if those little cards had some significant meaning. In today's quest for the dollars, email reigns supreme. The emails look much as the snail-mail circulars, only the return envelope for your donation is missing. As you might suspect, I have problems with these 'duns for dollars'.

For starters, almost all of the requests for money are just open ended. The requesters assume that I have no interest as to what these people who want my money are doing with it. For instance, I would like to know some of what happens to that money. Are they targeting certain races? The goals stated on the email request are very vague. You generally just get a slogan like, "Help win for McCain / Palin." The only things that are not vague are the places to click to donate. You have no trouble finding the donate buttons scattered everywhere on the page.

How much of the money is going to the undercard races? Is it all going to McCain?

They could at least tell me about some results or achievements already accomplished. Or where have they already spent some of the money? I do not want to tell them how to do what they do, but when they are using my money to do it, I would like to know what I am buying. Those empty rhetorical slogans do not encourage me to donate, just the opposite.

I write this because I never see an ad sponsored by the RNC anywhere on television. That is understandable, because I do not live in a battleground state. But Fox News never mentions the RNC, or it is very rare if they do. So what is the RNC doing? If the RNC was more visible, they might just take in more donations. They are as vaporous as Barack Obama's live birth certificate.

Why doesn't the RNC have an email address for donators to make comments? They should immediately set up an email comment section manned with volunteers to screen the moods and feelings of those Republicans that they want donating to their cause. The RNC would stand a much better chance of getting money if they made an effort to understand the people that are receiving those duns.

The whole fundraising operation smacks of elitism. "Just send money, we know best."
If the 'nowhere to be seen' RNC wasn't bad enough, I get duns from PACs. I have no idea who these PACs are so I never donate to them. How am I to know that the operation isn't some scam? Why can't these Political Action Committees spend a little of their money on recognition? At the least, have a well-known person that speaks for them. Also, a PAC needs to be traceable to an address for verification.

It is no mystery as to why the Republican fund raising is so sluggish. They assume that the donators are idiots.

This is just a vent, to be sure I want you to support the Republican ticket, but we also need to hold the RNC accountable for the miserly help that they are giving to our candidates. If they are short on money, it may just be because of their inept attempt at fund raising.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Open Letter to Obama

I received the following open letter to Obama from a friend. In the letter, the author tells his story both eloquently and powerfully. Fortunately for us, his example of sacrifice and endurance to establish a business is repeated thousands of times across this great land. The Cory Millers of this great land are not far from us no matter where in America we live. They form the backbone of our economy, and yet, it is the small businessman that is the target of the ambitious Barack Obama. Obama wants to decide the winners and losers by taxing the modestly successful small business. $250,000 dollars income from a business is not much, especially if the business employs anybody. A business with only two employees has to exceed an income of more than $250,000 just to survive and even then, there isn't any profit left for the owner. Running a business is more involved than the simplistic model put forward by Barack Obama. Please read Mr. Cory Miller's story for a fascinating look into the world of creating a small business.

From Cory Miller:

Given the furor about "Joe the plumber", I've written an open letter to Mr. Obama myself. I think it is worth the read. Maybe if Americans could take a closer look at what a small businessman is, they wouldn't want politicians penalizing their success. Feel free to forward it if you want.
Cory

Mr. Obama,
Given the uproar about the simple question asked you by Joe the plumber, and the persecution that has been heaped on him because he dared to question you, I find myself motivated to say a few things to you myself. While Joe aspires to start a business someday, I already have started not one, but four businesses. But first, let me introduce myself. You can call me "Cory the well driller". I am a 54-year-old high school graduate. I didn't go to college like you, I was too ready to go "conquer the world" when I finished high school. 25 years ago at age 29, I started my own water well drilling business at a time when the economy here in East Texas was in a tailspin from the crash of the early 80's oil boom. I didn't get any help from the government, nor did I look for any. I borrowed what I could from my sister, my uncle, and even the pawn shop and managed to scrape together a homemade drill rig and a few tools to do my first job. My businesses did not start as a result of privilege. They are the result of my personal drive, personal ambition, self discipline, self reliance, and a determination to treat my customers fairly.

From the very start my business provided one other (than myself) East Texan a full time job. I couldn't afford a backhoe the first few years (something every well drilling business had), so I and my helper had to dig the mud pits that are necessary for each and every job with hand shovels. I had to use my 10-year-old, 1/2 ton pickup truck for my water tank truck (normally a job for at least a 2-ton truck).

A year and a half after I started the business, I scraped together a 20% down payment to get a modest bank loan and bought a (28 year) old, worn out, slightly bigger drilling rig to allow me to drill the deeper water wells in my area. I spent the next few years drilling wells with the rig while simultaneously rebuilding it between jobs. Through these years, I never knew from one month to the next if I would have any work or be able to pay the bills. I got behind on my income taxes one year, and spent the next two years paying that back (with penalty and interest) while keeping up with ongoing taxes. I got behind on my water well supply bill 2 different years (way behind the second time... $80,000.00), and spent over a year paying it back (each time) while continuing to pay for ongoing supplies C.O.D. Of course, the personal stress endured through these experiences and years is hard to measure. I do have a stent in my heart now to memorialize it all.

I spent the next 10 years developing the reputation for being the most competent and most honest water well driller in East Texas. 2 years along the way, I hired another full time employee for the drilling business so that we could provide full time water well pump service as well as the well drilling. Also, 3 years along the path, I bought a water well screen service machine from a friend, starting business # 2. 5 years later I made a business loan for $100,000.00 to build a new, higher production, computer controlled screen service machine. I had designed the machine myself, and it didn't work out for 3 years so I had to make the loan payments without the benefit of any added income from the new machine. No government program was there to help me with the payments, or to help me sleep at night as I lay awake wondering how I would solve my machine problems or pay my bills. Finally, after 3 years, I got the screen machine working properly, and that provided another full time job for an East Texan in the screen service business.

2 years after that, I made another business loan, this time for $250,000.00, to buy another used drilling rig and all the support equipment needed to run another, larger, drill rig. This provided another two full time jobs for East Texans. Again, I spent a couple of years not knowing if I had made a smart move, or a move that would bankrupt me. For the third time in 13 years, I had placed everything I owned on the line, risking everything, in order to build a business.

A couple of years into this, I came up with a bright idea for a new kind of mud pump, a fundamentally necessary pump used on water well drill rigs. I spent my entire life savings to date (just $30,000.00), building a prototype of the pump and took it to the national water well convention to show it off. Customers immediately started coming out of the woodworks to buy the pumps, but there was a problem. I had depleted my assets making the prototype, and nobody would make me a business loan to start production of the new pumps. With several deposits for pump orders in hand, and nowhere to go, I finally started applying for as many credit card as I could find and took cash withdrawals on these cards to the tune of over $150,000.00 (including modest loans from my dear sister and brother), to get this 3rd business going.

Yes, once again, I had everything hanging over the line in an effort to start another business. I had never manufactured anything, and I had to design and bring into production a complex hydraulic machine from an untested prototype to a reliable production model (in six months). How many nights did I lay awake wondering if I had just made the paramount mistake of my life? I cannot tell you, but there were plenty. I managed to get the pumps into production, which immediately created another 2 full time jobs in East Texas. Some of the models in the first year suffered from quality issues due to the poor workmanship of one of my key suppliers, so I and an employee (another East Texan employed) had to drive across the country to repair customers' pumps, practically from coast to coast. I stood behind the product, and made payments to all the credit cards that had financed me (and my brother and sister). I spent the next 5 years improving and refining the product, building a reputation for the pump and the company, working to get the pump into drill rig manufacturers' product lines, and paying back credit cards.

During all this time, I continued to manage a growing water well business that was now operating 3 drill rig crews, and 2 well service crews. Also, the screen service business continued to grow. No government programs were there to help me, Mr. Obama, but that's ok, I didn't expect any, nor did I want any. I was too busy fighting to make success happen to sit around waiting for the government to help me.

Now, we have been manufacturing the mud pumps for 7 years, my combined businesses employ 32 full time employees, and distribute $5,000,000.00 annually through the local economy. Now, just 4 months ago I borrowed $1,254,000.00, purchasing computer controlled machining equipment to start my 4th business, a production machine shop. The machine shop will serve the mud pump company so that we can better manufacture our pumps that are being shipped worldwide. Of course, the machine shop will also do work for outside companies as well.

This has already produced 2 more full time jobs, and 2 more should develop out of it in the next few months. This should work out, but if it doesn't it will be because you, and the other professional politicians like yourself, will have destroyed our country's' (and the world) economy with your meddling with mortgage loan programs through your liberal manipulation and intimidation of loaning institutions to make sure that unqualified borrowers could get mortgages.

You see, at the very time when I couldn't get a business loan to get my mud pumps into production, you were working with Acorn and the Community Reinvestment Act programs to make sure that unqualified borrowers could buy homes with no down payment, and even no credit or worse yet, bad credit. Even the infamous, liberal, Ninja loans (No Income, No Job or Assets). While these unqualified borrowers were enjoying unrealistically low interest rates, I was paying 22% to 24% interest on the credit cards that I had used to provide me the funds for the mud pump business that has created jobs for more East Texans. It's funny, because after 25 years of turning almost every dime of extra money back into my businesses to grow them, it has been only in the last two years that I have finally made enough money to be able to put a little away for retirement, and now the value of that has dropped 40% because of the policies you and your ilk have perpetrated on our country.

You see, Mr. Obama, I'm the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I'm the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I'm the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn't want to take a risk, and would not demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I'm the guy you characterize as "the Americans who can afford it the most" that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution "to spread the wealth" to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything. You want to characterize me as someone who has enjoyed a life of privilege and who needs to pay a higher percentage of my income than those who have bought into your entitlement culture. I resent you, Mr. Obama, as I resent all who want to use class warfare as a tool to advance their political career. What's worse, each year more Americans buy into your liberal entitlement culture, and turn to the government for their hope of a better life instead of themselves. Liberals are succeeding through more than 40 years of collaborative effort between the predominant liberal media, and liberal indoctrination programs in the public school systems across our land.

What is so terribly sad about this is this. America was made great by people who embraced the one-time American culture of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-determination, self-discipline, personal-betterment, hard work, and risk-taking. A culture built around the concept that success was in reach of every able bodied American who would strive for it. Each year that less Americans embrace that culture, we all descend together. We descend down the socialist path that has brought country after country ultimately to bitter and unremarkable states. If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture of can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn't it, Mr. Obama? The country would not need you if the country was convinced that problem solving was best left with individuals instead of the government. You and all your liberal comrades have got a vested interested in creating a dependent class in our country. It is the very business of liberals to create an ever-expanding dependence on government. What's remarkable is that you, who have never produced a job in your life, are going to tax me to take more of my money and give it to people who wouldn't need my money if they would get off their entitlement mentality asses and apply themselves at work, demand more from themselves, and quit looking to liberal politicians to raise their station in life.

You see, I know because I've had them work for me before, hundreds of them over these 25 years. People who simply will not show up to work on time, people who just will not work 5 days in a week, much less, 6 days. People always looking for a way to put less effort out, people who actually tell me that they would do more if I just would first pay them more. People who take off work to sit in government offices to apply to get free government handouts (gee, I wonder how things would have turned out for them if they had spent that time earning money and pleasing their employer?). You see, all of this comes from your entitlement mentality culture.
Oh, I know you will say I am uncompassionate. Sorry, Mr. Obama, wrong again. You see, I've seen what the average percentage of your income has been given to charities over the years of 2000 to 2004 (ignoring the years you started running for office - can you pronounce "politically motivated"), you averaged less than 1% annually. And your running mate, Joe Biden, averaged less than ¼% of his annual income in charitable contributions over the last 10 years. Like so many liberals, the two of you want to give to the needy; just as long as it is someone else's money, you are giving to them. I won't say what I have given to charities over the last 25 years, but the percentage is several times more than you and Joe Biden, combined (don't you just hate Google?). Tell me again how you feel my pain.

In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of Western Europe and all countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.

God help us...

Cory Miller

Just a ordinary, extraordinary American, the way a lot of Americans used to be.
P.S. Yes, Mr. Obama, I am a real American...
www.cmillerdrilling.com


Well said,

Cheers,

-Robert-

Political Musings

Berg v. Obama

Those of you who want to keep up with the latest on the Berg v. Obama lawsuit and you want the latest news; Jeff Schreiber's blog at http://www.americasright.com/ is a good place to look. He stays in touch with Phillip Berg and has contacts close to the courthouse.
Yesterday Rush (Rush Limbaugh) touched on the possibility that Obama's trip to Hawaii may be related to the case. I did not want to mention it in this blog because of its speculative nature. But because of Rush, it is out there. The reason behind the speculation is that Obama waited several days before departing to visit his 'gravely' ill Grandmother.

It is a stretch to read too much into that because he has probably been in touch with people close to the Grandmother and knew he had time to tidy up his campaign before making the trip. What I think is more telling is the timing of the trip. The judge in the lawsuit is close to rendering a decision on the dismissal motions and Obama may be trying to scare up a live birth certificate that will pass muster. That is if the Grandmother isn't gravely ill. But any of this is just speculation. Speculations may be interesting, but it does no good to speculate on Obama's trip because there are no facts to back up any of these suspicions.

Sarah Palin

Sarah continues to be an interesting personality. It is too bad the mainstream press can't get past her wardrobe. I have never seen any candidate so mercilessly denigrated. But buck up about it because if she weren't effective, it would not be happening.

Groups like ACORN have been caught committing voter fraud in several states but Obama still will not disassociate from them. Sarah Palin called for Obama to denounce ACORN's activities in an interview with Sean Hannity. Sarah wants Obama to denounce ACORN and take a stand for fair elections. But that is hard for Obama to do because he has donated so much money to them. Remember, his ties with ACORN are long and deep. Not only is he a financial supporter but at one time he actually helped train ACORN's organizers.

Obama v. NRA

The surrogates for Obama are out on the media circuit denouncing a new television ad by the NRA that demonstrates his anti-gun positions. Of course, the surrogates point to recent statements by Obama supporting the 2nd Amendment. The problem with that defense is Obama's terrible voting record against owning firearms. Has he really had a change of heart? If we elect Obama with a veto-proof Congress, the NRA thinks that his original anti-gun stance will resurface and he will initiate and pass more anti-gun legislation. Politicians have to kiss a lot of ugly babies while campaigning, and this is probably just another such choice he has made for votes. Do not trust Obama when it comes to firearms. His history does not support any change of heart that he is currently trying to project.

The Economy

It is early Friday morning and the futures market is plummeting. The DOW has reached its block point at minus 550 points, ditto for the S&P index of minus 60 points. World markets have all fell by 10% or greater. Thanks again to the Liberal Democrats for creating this mess.
Unintended consequences always prevail when governments institute policies without thinking through their actions. We now have found out that the guarantees put in place to prop up the faith in Australia's banks have been too successful. The folks down under are selling off equities and putting the cash in the banks. The result is a plunging stock market.--Oh Well!
Banks are loaning to each other but still holding tight on loans to everybody else. That is also defeating the reason for the bailout.

The Democrats are planning another cash give-away of tax dollars to 'stimulate the economy'. It just seems like the politicians never learn. Trying to legislate a good economy will fail every time it is tried. Reducing the capital gains tax would stimulate interest in equities again, but they won't do that. The Congress will not do anything that lessens their control over us a little bit. What a shame, we really need the government to take a step back, but Liberal Democrats want to do the opposite, they want more control!

Cheers,

-Robert-

The Housing Bubble

How appropriate to call the housing boom a 'bubble'. The housing bubble affected everybody. The tentacles of the housing boom are long and dug into just about every sector of our economy. First, let's look at some of obvious benefactors of the 'bubble'.

Construction workers by the thousands were able to have gainful employment. The carpenters, plumbers, electricians, drywall hangers, roofers, painters, bricklayers, tile setters, and concrete workers all enjoyed the fruits of the housing boom. These are the obvious winners in such a market, but consequentially, the first to bear the consequences when the bubble bursts.

Second tier benefactors include the lumber companies, appliance dealers, paint suppliers, landscapers, tool vendors, carpet vendors, pipe vendors, street pavers, plant nurseries, swimming pool contractors, and new tax revenues for the city, county, and state.

The third tier benefactors are the manufacturers of the building products and their employees that turned raw material into building materials. That would include the timber industry, sawmills, plywood factories, drywall manufacturers, pipe manufacturers, steel industries, tool manufacturers, truckers, cement plants, paint manufacturers, railroads, petroleum industries, plastics industry, and the farmers.

All of the millions of workers of the various entities used their wages to purchase products for necessity and frills. Some of which include the theme parks, groceries, pleasure boats, electronic gadgets, the phone bill, television service bill, fuel, lawnmowers, and so on. Their spending supported a variety of other products and those employees of the vendors of those products.

Yep, it was a wild ride but the piper was out there and he was about to send us his bill.

The money to finance the boom from housing had to come from someplace and I call that someplace the finance and mortgage industry. Normally the moneylenders are a bunch of stuffed shirts that scrutinize every dollar that they loan. So what happened? How did we get on such a wild ride? The simple answer is an unprecedented demand for housing. That surge in demand came from people who normally would not qualify to borrow from the moneylenders.

Democrats leaned on the moneylenders to loan to the poor and minorities. The implication from the Democrats to the moneylenders was that the U.S. Government, via Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, would stand behind such loans. And when the bill came in, that is exactly what happened. The Government saddled the taxpayers with various bailout plans to pay for the massive housing boom. A boom brought about by Liberal Democratic policy.

The Democrats knew that the Government would have no choice but to wade in and rescue the economy. And it is not a given that those bailouts will even work. The tentacles were into the economy so deep that the Government had to either act, or send the economy down in flames. (Which still may happen) The nation's savings in 401K's were tanking, businesses bankrupting at an unprecedented rate, and the jobless count skyrocketing, the Government had to take action to prevent further chaos. The pressure put upon the financial markets threatened to bring not only our economy but also the world's economy to its knees; we are still reeling from the folly of the Democrats.

By now, everybody knows that Bush and the Republicans tried to reign in the out of control lending that threatened us all in 2005 and earlier, but the Democrats would have none of it. The Democrats blocked every initiative to regulate the mortgage industry. After all, their constituents were benefitting from the extravagance. Now, the Democrats are pulling the slickest move of all, and that is to make sure those poor-risk homebuyers get to keep their homes at the taxpayer's expense. This monumental transfer of wealth is happening right under every body's nose. The folly of what the Democrats did and are doing to this economy is hurting everybody.

To add insult to injury, this nation is about to reward Democrats with a Democratic President and a filibuster proof majority in the Congress. The Democrats will be able to pass their far leftist agenda without any opposition if they win by the margins forecast by the polls. Should the Congress reach the point that renders the filibuster moot, then we are in real trouble.

I encourage the readers of this post to think hard about for whom they want to vote. Our work force is shrinking because of the Democrat's failed socialist policies.

Support the McCain-Palin ticket with both your personal effort and your money. (Provided you still have some)

Cheers,

-Robert-